"So what exactly are you?" Chen Xin stared at the Lithium Crystal in the transparent container before him, feeling a bit of a headache.

Although he knew this wasn’t an Energy Crystal, a new problem presented itself to Chen Xin.

If it’s not an Energy Crystal, then what is it? Why does it continuously release energy without showing any signs of depletion?

If this is a High-Energy Crystal, storing vast amounts of energy internally so that emission over decades doesn’t have much impact is possible.

After all, if you had the Three Gorges Dam worth of water and opened a tap, even after decades, it might not have any significant effect on the entire reservoir.

But the problem is that even if this is a reservoir, it’s already a dry one down to the bottom, not to mention that Chen Xin has already tried it; the broken Lithium Crystal before him is no High-Energy Crystal.

While it does consistently emit energy, looking at this crystal, it feels like a fire that’s about to burn out, with the residual heat in the heap of ashes not yet fully dissipated.

So this should not be an Energy Crystal, but something with another use, only used by the Suyi people as an Energy Crystal.

This is similar to the Nokia era of the past, where the primary function of a Nokia phone was to make calls, but you could also use it to crack walnuts.

Evidently, the Suyi people back then were just like those using a phone to crack walnuts.

However, it’s also possible that the Suyi people didn’t find the correct application for this crystal, having no means to utilize it, and could only "find alternative uses" the way they could think of.

Thinking of this, Chen Xin felt a bit of a headache.

The things the Suyi people couldn’t think of, he couldn’t either.

After all, this is an unknown new material. From its name, Lithium Crystal, one cannot deduce what it actually is or what its purpose is.

"How did the Suyi people produce this thing in the first place? This doesn’t seem like something that Cold War-era technology could create." Chen Xin pounded his desk, appearing somewhat frustrated.

The officer beside him, hearing Chen Xin’s complaint, thought for a moment and said: "This doesn’t seem like it was made by the Suyi people. According to the materials and records found at this base, it was discovered by the expedition dispatched by the Tsar in the core area of the Tunguska explosion. Along with this crystal, there were also a frame and some metal fragments found.

These items were later transported back to the capital of Lucia, eventually acquired by the Suyi. This crystal and the metal fragments were handed over to the Suyi science department for study. As for the frame, the Tsar made it into a new scepter, which was lost during WWII along with the famous Amber Room."

The officer said this while passing some of the materials found at the base to Chen Xin.

The materials looked quite ancient, preserved in vacuum-sealed bags, and Chen Xin could only carefully peruse them to avoid damage.

Judging from the accounts written on these materials, and a few accompanying photos that were too old to be clear, Chen Xin believed that if these recorded contents have no issues, then evidently, the mystery of the Tunguska explosion that has puzzled humans for nearly a century is very clear now.

It was an exploding spaceship or UFO, and the Lithium Crystal fragment before them, along with the metal fragments and frame found by the Tsar’s expedition back then, all came from the remains of that exploded ship.

Seeing these items, especially a photo taken by the expedition when they discovered the Lithium Crystal, new ideas naturally sprang into Chen Xin’s mind.

He turned his gaze to the Lithium Crystal contained in the container, pondering on how to restore it to its original state and function.

"Broken Lithium Crystal Fragment"

"Upgrade Option 1: Repair the crystal structure, add external components, and upgrade to obtain an Antimatter Reactor Core Catalyst. Survival points needed for the upgrade: 3,200,000."

The system upgrade interface presented only one upgrade option this time, but it didn’t matter about an upgrade option two.

At this moment, Chen Xin had already figured out what this thing was!

An Antimatter Reactor Core Catalyst, just seeing that name, if Chen Xin still couldn’t understand what the Lithium Crystal was used for, then he might as well stop pretending to be a scientist and consider sincerely farming.

Evidently, among the countless theories surrounding the cause of the Tunguska explosion, a few indeed got it right.

Clearly, the Tunguska explosion was triggered by an alien spaceship, as no one on Earth knew what antimatter was at that time. As for what caused the spaceship to explode, that is now unknown, but obviously, the immense power of the Tunguska explosion largely stemmed from the fact that the exploding spaceship used an Antimatter Reactor.

The annihilation of matter and antimatter can completely convert matter into energy, releasing all the internal energy contained in the matter, calculated to only require a few grams of antimatter to release energy comparable to that of a nuclear explosion.

That’s why the Tunguska explosion at that time resulted in a mushroom cloud, and the exploded ship was almost obliterated.

As for why this crystal and its frame survived, it’s because this thing was originally in the Antimatter Reactor. If it couldn’t withstand the energy blast from antimatter reactions, it wouldn’t qualify to be used as a catalytic core.

And why this thing holds energy is also well explained: when the Lithium Crystal was placed in the Antimatter Reactor, it was constantly exposed to the reacting antimatter, absorbing part of the energy released by the reactions and converting them into the crystal’s Internal Energy.

This portion of energy might just be a minuscule part to the entire reactor, but because of the reactor’s high energy environment, it fills the Lithium Crystal with energy.

Therefore, after the explosion, perhaps due to the explosion itself or because the Lithium Crystal naturally releases its internal energy, this thing has been slowly discharging energy over these hundred-plus years.

This is like a boiler after an explosion, even though the flames are out, its remnants still retain heat and need some time to cool down.

However, the "residual heat" contained in this fragment from the Antimatter Reactor remains substantial, even after more than a hundred years of "heat dissipation," it still retains considerable energy.